# NFT folk don't understand 'Scarcity' well.

By [Dirrogate](https://paragraph.com/@dirrogate-2) · 2022-07-31

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Let's clarify one thing: I don't think NFT folk understand the intricate relationship between "Digital ownership", Scarcity and ADCs; analog to digital converters.

**Quick 101:**

*   A painting on a canvas is a scarce asset.
    
*   A typewriter typed page or handwritten page has scarcity.
    
*   A film-roll photograph of the painting on a canvas has scarcity.
    
*   A vinyl record has scarcity.
    

**Now:**

*   A CD made by 'sampling' a master Vinyl music record (the process done via an ADC), or 'recorded' directly from a studio mixer is _NEVER GOING TO HAVE SCARCITY._
    
*   Likewise, a digital photograph of a Canvas painting is 'sampled', aka captured via a digital Camera/scanner (ADC again) and won't have scarcity - once publicly available.
    
*   A digital work of art can remain Scarce and Rare - 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥.
    

...if we get pedantic, then an mp3 file originally sampled from a CD at 320kbps, and further copied down at 192kbps or streamed by Spotify...but I digress.

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/4f23aed72ec0a186a8b9658b35802522d79579a989c6554eeb3e90a7cbcec38a.png)

**#LighBulbMoment:**

Where's the incentive to own something that's not rare nor scarce because it's available in pristine form in abundance 𝘢𝘯𝘥 available for FREE?

Once a work of art/literature enters the digital domain of 1's and 0's -- it can be reproduced _AD NAUSEUM_ at the same quality. It is _INDISTINGUSHABLE_ from the 1st sampling.

So where is this 'uniqueness' of owning something digital and how is it supposedly scarce? The depreciative nature of _ANALOG_ makes it scarce; painted canvas, vinyl record, handwritten page...

**My Writing NFT Experiment:** I have to chuckle reading gems of wisdom such as this:

"...𝙽𝙵𝚃𝚜 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚞𝚜 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚕𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚕𝚎𝚖 — 𝚋𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢-𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚎, 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚝𝚜.

𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚜 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚊 𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚚𝚞𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔, 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 (𝚊 𝚙𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚌 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍)..." [source](https://dev.mirror.xyz/llJ_AboiDJwB_ZAFz-CXU7fL2p8v5Wz6MjfluLafewQ)

You can of course be the first to "own" my thoughts as written words along with an actual TANGIBLE NFT (a 1977 mint Captn' America hot-wheels firebird) if you [buy this article](https://mirror.xyz/0x3a2FD028203Aa86D4fFd8F8106eb50c1C9146723/dQq9oKn2CMFIXRlDfA4JCkZT4kXgK72Jg0a0CoMTS04) as an NFT...all for a reasonably priced 0.8 ETH.

At the very least, if the writings aren't up to scratch, you'll get a scale model of a 1977 FireBird which is rare...and scarce.

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*Originally published on [Dirrogate](https://paragraph.com/@dirrogate-2/nft-folk-don-t-understand-scarcity-well)*